Tag Archives: Human Rights Campaign

Post navigation

Updated, 1:40 p.m. Thursday: The Respect for Marriage Coalition is honoring former first lady Laura Bush’s request that they remove her from a newly launched national advertising campaign in support of gay marriage.

The coalition told Politico in a statement that “we appreciate Mrs. Bush’s previous comments but are sorry she didn’t want to be included in an ad.” The group is launching a new ad, which will no longer use a 2010 news clip of Bush talking about same sex marriage.

“The ad launched a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect the depth and breadth of our support,” the coalition said.

Original post: Former first lady Laura Bush is asking a pro-gay marriage group to remove her from a national television, newspaper and online advertising campaign that launched this week.

The Respect for Marriage Coalition, co-chaired by the Human Rights Campaign, kicked off a $1 million media campaign Wednesday with ads that use news clips of Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, President Barack Obama and others talking about gay marriage.

The advertising blitz, first reported by Politico, features a clip of Bush talking to Larry King on CNN in 2010 and saying, “When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.”

But Bush spokeswoman Anne MacDonald said in a statement Wednesday that the former first lady “did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated with the group that made the ad in any way.”

“When she became aware of the advertisement last night, we requested that the group remove her from it,” MacDonald said.

The TV ads began airing Wednesday on cable, and they’re expected to feature prominently on network Sunday news shows, according to the coalition’s news release. Full-page print ads will begin running in The New York Times and other publications in the coming days, the group said.

The Respect for Marriage Coalition couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about Bush’s request to be removed from the advertising campaign. We’ll update the post if we hear back.